The Acacia Group at Cal State University, Fullerton is currently accepting proposals for its 2014 Conference, Spaces and Places. The Acacia Group is an organization of English students and faculty members committed to developing student scholastic advancement while fostering a strong sense of academic community. California State University, Fullerton's Acacia Group and Creative Writing Club are looking for thoughtful interdisciplinary undergraduate, graduate, and professional-level presentations of no longer than 20 minutes that interacts with the concepts of space and place in literature, critical theory, or culture.

This year's theme will address issues of space and place in literature and culture. Beyond "the final frontier," space can be any kind of distance between people, places, and things. Topics such as liminal space in the classroom, staging choices in plays, television shows, comics, and community spaces are all be welcome explications of this topic. Similar to "space," place is not limited to being a point on a map. It can be examined through the lenses of regionalistic literature, studies on urban sprawl, or even how society has gendered and defined certain areas of geography, culture, and literature, and other myriad ways. This conference is a space and place to grow and develop ideas from any discipline. We welcome submissions that engage the aforementioned topics through different scholarly approaches either directly or tangentially related to this conference theme.

Additionally, we are accepting creative submissions: short emphatic works of fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, or hybrid text which pertain to space and place. The participation of undergraduates is greatly encouraged. For both critical and creative papers, please submit a 250-300 word abstract to: theacaciagroup.csuf@gmail.com by February 15, 2014. Please denote either "Criticism" or "Creative" in the headline. Presenters are encouraged to submit both critical and creative pieces.